Pencil pointer



P 1951 w. B. LINCOLN 2,999,481

PENCIL POINTER Filed Oct. 28, 1959 INVENTOR. WALTER BUTLER LINCOLN 6 myi-l' Fl G. 5.

ATTORNEYS United States Patent C 2,999,481 PENCIL POINTER Walter Butler Lincoln, Riverside, N.J., assignor to C. Howard Hunt Pen Co., Camden, NJ., :1 corporation of New Jersey Filed Oct. 28, 1959, Ser. No. 849,263 11 Claims. (Cl. 120-91) This invention relates to a pencil pointer which is useful for pointing the lead of a lead pencil. While useful with all kinds of lead pencils, it is of particular utility for pointing lead of a draftmans mechanical pencil.

It is, therefore, the principal object of this invention to provide a device for pointing the leads of lead pencils.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a device which will point a lead of a lead pencil efliciently to provide points of a variety of lengths and yet will insure that the lead is not broken olf during the pointing operation. It is a still further object of this invention to provide a device for pointing leads of pencils which can be very readily cleaned and which is also susceptible to having the abrasive surface employed replaced with facility.

These and other objects of this invention will become apparent on reading the following description in conjunction with the drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of the pencil pointer in accordance with this invention; 7

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of the pointer of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a vertical section taken on the plane indicated by the line 3-3 of FIGURE 2; and

FIGURE 4 is a horizontal section taken on the plane indicated by the line 4-4 in FIGURE 3; and

FIGURE 5 is a perspective view of the lower end of the pencil guide of the device of FIGURE 1.

As shown in the drawings, a pencil pointer 2 has a base 4 which is provided with an upstanding annular wall 6, and a bottom wall 8 having an upstanding protuberance 10, and the bottom wall 8 carries a ring 12 of a material having a high coefficient of friction, for example, rubber.

A spindle 14 passes upwardly through opening 15 in protuberance and is secured in opening by the pressed fitting of a knurled ring 16. Spindle 14 has a flange 18 which rests on the top of protuberance 10 and is further provided with a bearing portion 20 havinga rounded portion 22 which is engaged by an annular portion 24 of a cap portion 26 of abrasive hub 28. The annular portion 24 and the rounded portion 22 of bearing member 20 form a bell joint support for abrasive hub 28.

A stop pin 30 projects upwardly from protuberance 10 through an opening 32 in wall 33 of hub 28, stop pin 30 and opening 32 act to limit the movement of hub 28 on the ball joint.

In order to catch the particles of lead which are abraded, hub 28 is provided with a lower annular flange 34 and an upstanding wall 36 spaced away from ring 38 of abrasive material which may be, for example, a ring of sandpaper adhered to hub 28 by an adhesive. Ring 38 is in the shape of a trustum and fits tightly over a correspondingly shaped portion of hub 28.

Pointer 2 is provided with a cap 44 which has a downwardly extending boss 46, within which is located a hearing sleeve 48 of, for example, metal which abuts against shoulder 50 in bore 52. Sleeve 48 is supported by a flange 54 on spindle 14. A threaded member 56 having a knurled top 58 threadably engages the terminal threaded portion 60 of spindle 14.

A pencil guide 64 has a bore 66 adapted to accommodate a pencil 67 and has an axis which intersects the abrasive ring 38. Bore 66 has a reduced portion 68 which is large enough to accommodate the lead 69 but acts to arrest the downward passage of the other portions of pencil 67. A downwardly extending half round flange 70 acts as a support for the lead 69 when it is being abraded.

Bosses 72 and 74 which are integral with cap 44 have secured thereto leaf springs 76 and 78 respectively. Leaf springs 76 and 78 extend downwardly and have rounded terminal portions 80 and 82 respectively which engage top wall 33 of hub 28.

Operation For operation, all the parts are assembled as shown in the drawing and as described above, and the pencil 67 is inserted into bore 66 of pencil guide 64. The pencil is urged downwardly so that the lead engages abrasive ring 38. Pressure by the pencil lead 69 results in the tilting of hub 28 with annular portion 24 moving freely on rounded portion 22 of bearing member 20. Such movement is resisted by leaf springs 76 and 78 in order to insure suflicient pressure between ring 38 and lead 69 to provide for proper abrasion of the lead, but precludes the breaking of the lead.

A properly rounded point is achieved by rotating pencil 67 about spindle 14 which results in the similar rotation of cap 44. As the lead 69 is carried about ring 38 its entire periphery will be abraded to form a properly rounded point. The rotation of hub 28 except for a minor amount is prevented by means of the interaction between stop pin 30 and opening 32 in wall 33 of hub 28. It will be appreciated that as the pencil guide 64 is rotated, the springs 76 and 78 will be carried around by cap 44 so as to always be in position to oppose the tilting of hub 28.

An important feature of this invention is that various lengths of points can be produced. If a short point is desired only a short length of lead projecting from the pencil will be used. To get a longer point, a longer piece of lead projecting from the pencil will be used. The longer lead will cause the abrasive ring 38 to be tilted further which will provide for the abrasive surface to engage the lead along a greater part of its length and the abrasion of a longer point.

When the abrasive ring 38 becomes worn, the entire hub 28 is removed after removing threaded member 56 and cap 44 and a new hub is replaced. The design of the hub makes it possible to be inexpensively constructed of, for example, a plastic material, and hence disposable to eliminate the normal very dirty procedure of replacing the ring 38 of abrasive material.

Due to its unique construction the pencil pointer 2 of this invention can, if desired, be flexibly secured to a surface indicated at 90, by means of screws 92 passing through openings 94 in base 4. Such securing is possible because it is not necessary to move the base 4 in order to clean the pointer since all of the abraded material is caught in the trough formed by flange 34 of upstanding wall 36 of hub 28.

What is claimed is:

1. A pencil pointer comprising a base, a hub supported on said base by a ball joint and having an outer abrasive surface, stop means to limit the movement of said hub on said joint, a cap mounted for rotation above said support, a pencil guide in said cap having an axis intersecting said abrasive surface, and resilient means interposed between said cap and said hub to resist the downward tilting of the hub away from the pencil guide.

2. A pencil pointer comprising a base, a hub supported on said base by a ball joint and having an outer abrasive surface, stop means to limit the rotational movement of said hub on said joint, a cap mounted for rotation above said support, a pencil guide in said cap having an axis intersecting said abrasive surface, and resilient means interposed between said cap and said hub to resist the downward tilting of the hub away from the pencil guide.

3. A pencil pointer comprising a base, a hub supported on said base by a ball joint and having an outer abrasive surface, stop means to limit the rotational movement of said hub on said joint, a cap mounted for rotation above said support, said stop means comprising an upstanding in passing through a restricted opening in said" hub, a pencil guide in said cap having an axis intersecting said abrasive surface, and resilient means interposed between said cap and said hub to resist the downward tilting of'the hub away from the pencil guide. I 4. A pencil pointer comprising a base, a hub supported on said base by a ball joint and having an outer abrasive surface and a trough to collect abraded particles, stop means to limit the movement of said hub on said joint, a cap mounted for rotation above said support, a; pencil guide in said cap having an axis intersecting said abrasive surface, and resilient means interposed between said cap and said hub to resist the downward tilting of thehubaway from the pencil guide.

5. A pencil pointer comprising a base,.a hub supported on said base by a ball joint and having anouter abrasive" surface, stop means to limit the movement of said hub on said joint, a cap mounted for rotation above said support,.a pencil guide in said cap having an axis intersecting said abrasive surface, and a spring interposed between said cap and said hub to resist the downward tilting of the hub away from the pencil guide.

6. A pencil pointer comprising a base, a hub supported on said base by a bail joint and having ano'uter abrasive surface, stop means to limit themovement of said hub on said joint, a cap mounted for rotation above said support,- a pencil guide in said caphaving an axis intersecting said abrasive surface, and resilient means interposed between said cap and said hub to resistthe downward tilting of the hub away from the pencil guide, said-resilient means comprising a spring secured to the cap and adapted to slidingly engage the hub.

7. A pencil pointer comprising a base, a hub supported on said base by a ball joint and having an outer abrasivesurface, stop means to limit the movement of said hub on said joint, a cap mounted for rotation above said support,v

a pencil guide in said cap having an axis intersecting said abrasive surface, a support for said lead depending from said pencil guide to support the side of a pencil lead remote from the abrasive surface and a spring interposed between said cap and said hub to resist the downward tilting of the hub away from the pencil guide.

8. A pencil pointer comprising a base, a hub supported on said base by a ball joint and having an outer abrasive surface, stop means to limit the movement of said hub on said joint, a cap mounted for rotation above said support, a pencil guide in said cap having an axis intersecting said abrasive surface, and resilient means interposed between said cap and saidhub to resist thedownward tilting of the hub away from the pencil guide,- said resilient means comprising a ieaf spring secured to" the cap and adapted to slidingly engage the hub;

9. A pencil pointer comprising a base, a hub supported on said base by a ball joint and having an outer abrasive surface, stopmeans to'limit the movement'of said' hub on said joint, a cap mountedfor rotation above said support,

a pencil guide in said cap havingan axis intersectingsaid 10. A pencil pointer comprising abase, a hub supported onsaid base by a ball joint and having an outer abrasive surface and a trough to collect abraded parti cles, stop means to limit the movement of said hub on said joint, a cap mounted for rotation above said support, a pencil guide in said cap having, an axis intersecting said abrasive surface, and resilient means interposed between said cap and said hub to resist the downward tilting of the hub away from the pencil guide, said. base beingadapted to rest on a surface and having a plurality of openings for the reception of members to secure the base to said surface.

11'. A pencil pointer comprising. a base, a disposable hub removably supported on said base by a balljoint and having an outer abrasive surface, stop means to limit the movement of said hub on saidjoint, a cap mounted for rotation above said supoprt, a pencil guide in. said cap having an axis intersecting said abrasive surface, and resilient means interposed between said cap andsaid hub to resist the downward tilting ofthe hub away from the- Pratt Oct. 28,1958 

